1. Technical Field
The invention relates to a-windscreen wiper device comprising an elastic, elongated carrier element, as well as an elongated wiper blade of a flexible material, which can be placed in abutment with a windscreen to be wiped, which wiper blade includes opposing longitudinal grooves on its longitudinal sides, in which grooves spaced-apart longitudinal strips of the carrier element are disposed, wherein neighboring ends of longitudinal strips are interconnected by a respective connecting piece, which windscreen wiper device comprises a connecting device for an oscillating wiper arm, wherein at least one connecting piece comprises engaging members engaging around the longitudinal strips so that strips are mounted in grooves formed by engaging members.
2. Related Art
Such a windscreen wiper device is known form European patent publication no. 1 491 416 in the name of the same Applicant. The prior art windscreen wiper device is in particular designed as a “yokeless” wiper device, wherein use is no longer made of several yokes pivotally connected to each other, but wherein the wiper blade is biased by the carrier element, as a result of which it exhibits a specific curvature. According to the prior art connecting piece is slided over the neighboring ends of strips—or vice versa, that is the neighboring ends of strips are slided into connecting piece—so that a reliable snap connection between these parts is realized. In the prior art connecting piece is provided with an opening at its free end so that the wiper blade can freely slide through connecting piece. In other words, the connecting pieces do not retain the wiper blade, so that connecting pieces allow a relative movement of the wiper blade along the longitudinal strips in the connecting pieces.
One drawback of the prior art windscreen wiper device is the fact that the connecting pieces (in practice also called “end caps”) and the wiper blade are not connected in a durable, solid manner. Particularly, when a spoiler is only retained onto strips (and not onto an upper part of the wiper blade facing away from the windscreen to be wiped), the wiper blade may come loose from the connecting pieces. As a result, the life span of the prior art windscreen wiper device may be seriously shortened.
A windscreen wiper device is known from German patent publication no. 101 39 104 (Valeo). An end wall of the connecting piece as depicted in FIG. 5a thereof could be seen as retaining the connecting piece onto the wiper blade.